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Lately the lack of abandoned buildings in New York has had me ruin-hunting outside the five boroughs, but all the while there was something incredible just a ten minute walk from my apartment. Just when it seems there is nothing left to find, this city will surprise you. Continue reading →

When it first opened under the name “Universal Theater” on October 9th, 1927, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported “one of the most disorderly first nights ever witnessed in Brooklyn.” Many resorted to clambering up the fire escape to gawk at the wonders within. Continue reading →

Just a few paces into the woods behind the Old Dutch Church, the air grows thick with mosquitoes—that’s because the ground is full of damp, dark places where the bloodsuckers lurk and breed. Bricks crumble from a row of gaping hillside mausoleums, and jagged headstones stretch as far as the eye can see Continue reading →

For 124 years, a castle with many names loomed over Staten Island. Perched on a six-acre hilltop covered in creeping vines, the striking red brick chateau could have been the backdrop of a fairy tale until thirty years of neglect made it the perfect setting for a Gothic horror. Continue reading →

The Hudson River Valley is home to more than its share of formidable ruins, but few match the spooky appeal of Rhinebeck’s Wyndclyffe Mansion. Its exterior is blessed with that combination of gloom, ornamentation, and extreme old age that only the best haunted houses claim. Continue reading →

Most graffiti you find in abandoned buildings is typical teenage nonsense rooted in age-appropriate angst, but there’s something darker and more menacing afoot in the Profanity House. Continue reading →

A deserted castle in the woods always has a few stories to tell. Maybe you’ve heard of the heart shaped pools at Storybook that fill with blood on a full moon, or the Rapunzel inspired succubus who hangs her hair to tempt gullible fishermen to their doom in the highest tower. Continue reading →

The ruins of Long Island’s Kings Park Psychiatric Center are often described as the perfect setting for a horror movie, and sure enough, several have been shot here. Poe and Lovecraft’s narrators may have been writing from asylum cells, but today’s horror heroes are venturing inside the abandoned ones… Continue reading →

In rural eastern Pennsylvania, the coal-rich soil blackens boots, pantlegs, elbows, and faces, covering the densely packed row houses of Mahanoy City with a dingy gray patina. Coal production is still plugging along here, but the lifeblood of this industry town has slowed to a trickle since the 1920s. Continue reading →

Most New Yorkers have never heard of North Brother Island, but they should take comfort in the fact that new trees are growing and manmade things are going by the wayside just a stone’s throw from Rikers and a few miles from LaGuardia Airport. Continue reading →

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